Later, it was found missing its Hemi, its interior and driveline. Chrysler could not repair and sell the B-5 car. They decided to turn it into an engineering test car. The shell was shipped as essentially a body in white to Nichels Engineering in Griffith, Indiana.

Nichels rebuilt the car to NASCAR standards, including raking the body nose-down. They installed the bars inside the engine compartment from the firewall to the radiator support to stiffen the front end. They put in a roll cage, a race Hemi and matching drivetrain, and numbered it DC 93.

Paul Goldsmith drove it at the 1969 Daytona 500, and along with Bobby Isaac and Charlie Glotzbach completed a 1-2-3 sweep in Charger 500s.

Chrysler decided to go to the next level and install the ultimate aero package – the nose cone and the wing, making it a Charger Daytona.

The test results convinced Chrysler higher ups to make the winged cars and sell them to the public so they could be raced in NASCAR. While Chrysler worked out the logistics of building the 500 cars necessary for the public, Chrysler racing made the wings and nose cones available to teams racing the Charger 500s. None of the teams would race actual Charger Daytonas; they would merely add the modifications to the 500s they were already running. The newly configured cars would make their first track appearance at Talladega in September 1969.

Technically, a Chrysler-owned car could not race in NASCAR. As he had at Daytona, Nichels entered the car at Talladega as if he owned it. The car was outfitted to look like a Nichels-owned racer and the number “88” was applied to it.

The first day of practice at the track led to the headline: “200 MPH Certain At Talladega Track.” P Isaac was driving the K and K Daytona and Glotzbach predicted he would be even faster on race day. He was slated to sit on the pole – and then the Professional Drivers Association walked out.

On March 24, 1970, DC-93 ran its “transmission test” where here it broke 200 MPH with Buddy Baker at the wheel. The speed was a NASCAR record and world record for a closed course. After the Talladega record runs, the car was sent to Chelsea where Chrysler continued using it for tests.

Mexico’s Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez teamed with his father Juan C. Lopez to become the unofficial overall and SCORE Trophy Truck winners

this is the 3rd time Lopez crossed the finish line 1st, but in 2015 and 2016 he was penalized to 2nd place win

Final official results will be released by SCORE race officials after the course closes and all data-tracking devices have been read and penalties assessed late afternoon on Saturday.

The Lopez tandem finished second in this race behind Rob MacCachren the last 2 years, but the third time was the charm as the Lopez team finished in 19 hours, 53 minutes, 36 seconds as the 3 year SCORE Baja 1000 overall victory streak of Rob MacCachren ended when he was put out of the race with engine failure at about race mile 550.

MacCachren wasn’t the only top racer who fell, Robby Gordon, Andy McMillin, Luke McMillin and Bryce Menzies who all have had various types of mechanical issues. Also out, with a transmission failure was two-time SCORE Baja 1000 race winner B. J. Baldwin.

It also marked the 29th overall 4-wheel victory in the last 32 years for BFGoodrich Tires

The expanding SCORE safety initiatives were at their highest level, and may possibly be at the minimum level for realistic safety at this year’s Baja 1000.
This year a new STELLA tracking system was used, and there were 25 rescue vehicles and ambulances stretched along the race course.

There were only 3 dedicated rescue/ extrication vehicles with tools, medical supplies and professional Fire-Rescue crews monitoring and advancing along with the race.

Two Air Ambulances were staffed with a critical care nurse and paramedic, and the SCORE Medical/Rescue Helicopter was staffed with two advanced life support rescue paramedics and supplies.

Over 50 satellite radios/phones were utilized for direct safety communications along the course. There was full internet capability throughout the command centers and Rescue units that monitored live updates, locations, communications and any race-related emergencies.

These are incredible, fit some muscle cars (I put a pair in my last car, a 69 Super Bee) and don't look like the ugly weird lights blank check builds are getting. You know, the ones you look at and wonder (what the eff were they thinking, those are hideous)

It's not going to affect much here at ol short attention span theater, but, now and then I'm going to forget what I've said, to who, about what, and if you are that guy, or the other guy, and what we talked about in comments or person.

So... just ignore what you can, and pretend that you didn't hear the phrase other people might be offended by as I actually don't know that you're a Chevy guy, not a Ford guy, or that we've been chatting along with email and Facebook, as well as in the comments section.

I simply can't remember. Oh, and no - I'm pretty sure I don't owe you a beer. But, I wouldn't be surprised to find that I forgot you owe ME one! Ha!

The Dart is the topic of a short blog http://johnjdolan.blogspot.com which is where you find that the Dart belonged to Rick's high school buddy John Dolan, and it was given a blip in Mopar Action magazine in 1991,

and soon after, John died in a car accident in 1991.

The Dart became Rick's, and was in rough shape.

it was stored until life got on track after marriage, kids, house, business etc etc all lined up to where the car could get some center stage time and the build is at http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/1969-dart-gt-convertible.110061 The rebuild happened after about 15 years of storing the car, and then 5 years of nights and weekends, with the help of his daughter who helped weld, sand, primer, paint, wire, reassemble, hold parts, polish and clean... it was finished

once completed in all ways, it went for a road trip of 17 states and 6000 miles.

This car may have more people owning a set of keys to it than any other, due to the deep history of it, and I count at least 6 sets of keys spread out among the families involved.

In mid-July 2017, Bob was contacted by Charlie regarding a Superbird his wife’s uncle Randy owned in Indiana

See, Charlie worked with a fellow named Dave whose son Matt heard Bob was into wing cars.

Randy agreed to sell it for 60k in Sept, and Bob is going to fix some issues, but the seized engine, and rotted radiator (plus the instant profit) have convinced him to flip it.

Randy told Bob he had bought the car brand new because it was different and that he drove it to cruises and as a daily driver for four years. In late 1974, Randy parked the car because of a bad voltage regulator.

Randy had moved the car once in the past when he sold his house. He had a tow truck haul it to his new house (the one Bob bought it from) during the night so no one would see it or know it was there.

When the guys got the car into the sunlight, the forty-three years of dirt showed. The interior had some damage from mice, however, the vinyl top was perfect and the interior was beautiful besides needing to have the bench seat repaired and new carpet installed.

“We found several dollars’ worth of change and deep cleaned and conditioned the vinyl top and dash pad. There was absolutely zero rust around the windshield or dash pad; inside or out. The back window and moldings were great too and the car had absolutely no leaks when we washed it.

Also, with both a Superbird and a Daytona in his garage, Bob is already flush with cool cars, and needs the money more than he needs a project

Fifty five years ago Suzuki won its first world championship with the rinkiest-dinkiest little 50cc Grand Prix bike that Ernst Degner rode to the inaugural 50cc title in October 1962. It made 8 horsepower and was good for 90mph.

It's success was as much a historic moment for the sport as it was for Suzuki, because this was also the first world title won by a two-stroke, which would go on to utterly dominate GP racing, that after 1975 not a single world title was won by a four-stroke until the rules were changed and the MotoGP era began in 2001.

After all, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki legends would never have happened if it wasn’t for the two-stroke’s domination in GPs.

It all started with a genius East German engineer called Walter Kaaden who did ground-breaking work on the two-stroke at the struggling MZ factory.

As a direct result, Suzuki and the other Japanese factories only built winning two-strokes after Suzuki paid star MZ rider Degner a king’s ransom to defect from East to West and sell Kaaden’s hard-earned secrets.

During WW2 Kaaden worked at Hitler’s secret weapons base in Peenemunde where the so-called Vengeance Weapons – the V-1 and V-2 – were developed. After the war he started tuning and racing little MZ two-strokes. Eventually MZ turned up at the Nurburgring for its GP debut in a scruffy little van containing a pair of medieval-looking 125 race bikes.

What the more smartly attired westerners didn’t know was that Kaaden had used the knowhow he gained at Peenemunde to transform the MZ into a real threat to the all-conquering four-strokes.

By uniting three key technologies for the first time – the expansion chamber, the disc valve and the boost port – the MZ 125 became the world’s first normally aspirated engine to make 200 horsepower per litre.

Despite the paucity of its resources, MZ fought Honda for the 125 world title throughout the summer of 1961 – Degner aboard the single-cylinder MZ, Aussie Tom Phillis on Honda’s four-stroke twin.

During the summer of ’61 Degner sneaked away from his Stasi minders to have secret meetings with Suzuki personnel.

Company president Shunzo Suzuki realised the only way he was going to prevent his company from becoming a paddock joke was by getting hold of Kaaden’s top-secret formula. Degner was their man; he wanted out of East Germany and he had exactly what Suzuki wanted.

A deal was struck – Degner would help Suzuki build competitive two-strokes and then he would ride them.
Degner had to spirit himself and his family into the west, but, when he raced abroad his family had to stay in East Germany, to make sure he always came home.

Degner devised a new plan with his West German sidekick Paul Petry, who bought a Lincoln with a secret compartment inside the trunk.

During the weekend of the Swedish GP Petry drugged Degner’s children, placed them in the Lincoln’s boot, then drugged Gerda Degner who climbed in with them.

Petry drove the car through the border, and Degner made his escape by getting a Suzuki staffer to drive him and a suitcase full of vital MZ engine parts and drawings into Denmark.

His main task was to help create a new 125 that had to make at least 22 horsepower if he was to receive his £10,000 reward (£200,000 in today’s money) and he succeeded in making a mirror-image copy of the MZ single with 24 horsepower, and the season was a triumph for Suzuki.

The little 50 scored Suzuki’s first-ever World Championship point at Barcelona in May 1962, then won the company’s first World Championship race at the Isle of Man, where Degner averaged a dizzying 71mph – faster than the factory’s 125 had managed just two years earlier.

Once Kaaden’s genie was out the bottle an extraordinary race developed between two-stroke and four-stroke. In an effort to keep the Suzuki and Yamaha two-strokes at bay Honda built fabulous multi-cylinder four-strokes that were capable of sky-high engine speeds.

Honda’s twin-cylinder 50 and five-cylinder 125 both revved beyond 20,000rpm which gave them power-per-litre outputs of over 270bhp.

Suzuki and Yamaha responded with two-stroke multis capable of similarly outrageous performance. Yamaha built 125 and 250 V4s while Suzuki built a 150mph 250 square-four.

The Kawasaki KR250 and 350 that won eight world titles was a straight rip-off of the MZ 250 that Kaaden had created in 1969: same tandem twin layout, same bore and stroke, same porting arrangement, same geared-together crankshafts. Likewise Suzuki’s RG500 square-four that took Barry Sheene to the 1976 and 1977 500 world titles.

Kaaden forgave Degner for betraying him and was philosophical about how the Japanese used his life’s work to build an industry that helped make the country a global economic power.

“Every time you build something good, someone steals it,” he said a few years before his death in 1997. “I have to accept it. I cannot change it.”

Andy McMillin, Gustavo Vildosola Jr. and Brandon Arthur have driven their SCORE Trophy Truck to the four-wheel vehicle overall lead at the halfway point

McMillin seeks his sixth SCORE Baja 1000 victory.

McMillin has won the SCORE Baja 1000 overall as has his father, Scott, and his late grandfather, is teaming with a former SCORE Baja 1000 overall winner in Tavo Vildosola Jr. of Mexicali, Mexico and 21-year-old Brandon Arthur of San Diego in their quest to halt the three-year SCORE Baja 1000 overall victory streak of off-road legend Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas.

MacCachren, is attempting to become the first driver to win overall in four straight races.

At the halfway mark Thursday, the trio of MacCachren, Voss and Justin Smith trailed McMillin’s truck by seven miles in his pursuit of the coveted lead position.

Trailing McMillin and MacCachren, is McMillin’s cousin, Luke, 24 years old from San Diego, followed by two-time defending SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez of Tecate, Mexico and Bryce Menzies in a Ford Raptor.

Leading the Class 1 unlimited open-wheel cars was Brian Wilson of Lakewood, Calif., who is teaming with his father, Randy Wilson also of Lakewood, and Kyle Quinn of Irvine, Calif., in a Jimco-Chevy open-wheel desert race car.

Second at the halfway point was Brandon Bailey of Riverside, Calif., in an Alumi Craft-Chevy as Bailey is co-driving with Jason Coleman of Huntington Beach, Calif., Johnny Nelson of Hemet, Calif., and Arthur, who driving two different vehicles in this year’s SCORE Baja 1000.